b'Branch newsASEG newsASEG Branch newsVictoria That being said, there are two itemsWestern Australia, the Northern Territory worth mentioning from here in Perth.and Queensland, as well as for gold and A god-fearing comrade recently askedFirstly, due to COVID-19s impact, wevecopper in the Philippines and Chile. me whether I thought the apocalypseextended the application period for ourJon has a keen interest in Mars and has could be upon us, like that describedStudent Awards until the end of July.been studying terrestrial analogues of in the book of Revelation. Curious, IPlease pass this information along soMartian landscapes and developing responded with a raised eyebrow andthat we can ensure everyone in SFHexploration strategies for human asked him whether the final showdown(Study From Home) groups are all awaremissions to Mars. His expertise also between God and Satan, if this wereof this extension! Secondly, due to thecovers exploration strategies for human indeed the final days of mankind,nearly complete lack of (ASEG WA) costsmissions is through integrated field would be shown on Netflix tonight. Hesince the lockdown(s), we have decidedresearch of instruments (spectrometers, did not take my response too kindly.to extend our sponsors period rightdata capture, geophysical tools), I acquiesced. I then asked him tothrough to the end of the year (i.e., wevemethodologies (scouting, navigation), which cryptic symbol in the scripturesadded a grace period from the usual Juneexploration technologies (suits, living of Christianity was he referring?30). We do this in great appreciation formodules, rovers, field robotics), at Armageddon? The armed forces of manytheir support for the past years, and alsoappropriate levels of simulation fidelity. countries have been deployed to renderto help them with their bottom line rightwww.marssociety.org.auhumanitarian aid. Theyre putting theirnow.efforts into saving lives, not necessarilyThis amazing webinar is available on the preparing for war. Was it the Antichrist,Lastly, I do know that the lockdownASEG YouTube channel for you to watch I asked? Trump is certainly doing a finepolicies are being relaxed acrossnow https://www.aseg.org.au/aseg-job so far. I believed he once respondedAustralia, but please remain vigilant, andwebinar-act-branch-29-april-2020-dr-to a reporter, God, who? Never heardstay safe everyone! steph-mclennan-dr-jon-clarkeof her. Or perhaps it was the Rapture, ITodd MojeskyMarina Costelloe, inquired? Many airlines have been placedwapresident@aseg.org.au actpresident@aseg.org.auinto administration, with bankruptcy their only protection. It would be ratherAustralian Capital Territory New South Walesdifficult to obtain sufficient altitude, at the preferred cloud level, to meet theThe ACT Branch offered the widerIn 1964 Bob Dylan famously sang the Lord at the present time. It was at thismembership a webinar on 29 April. Thistimes they are a changin, and these point, my comrade decided he had hadwebinar entitled Working in isolation words still resonate today, perhaps now enough of my wicked attitude. John and IAntarctica and on Mars was presentedmore so than ever. In this different world are no longer friends. I have always beenby Dr Steph McLennan and Dr Jonno-one (including ASEG NSW) has been mistrusting of Johns Revelations . IfClarke (both from Geoscience Australia)sparedas such, it has been a relatively this were the End of Days, I would be veryand hosted by Marina Costelloe. quiet couple of months on the NSW disappointed. I have placed a very largeSteph McLennan is a geoscientist andBranch front.sum of money with the TAB betting thatcommunicator working to understand the Apophis asteroid would strike theWe have cancelled our regular monthly environmental impacts on ice-free areasmeetings and we are looking forward Earth on 13 April 2029. of Antarctica. These environments are to re-commencing when we are able In branch news, the Victorian chapterparticularly vulnerable to damage fromhopefully sooner rather than later. of the ASEG entered early hibernationinfrastructure development and tourism.Thankfully, we were still able proceed in 2020. It will be a long, long winter, ISteph joined Geoscience Australia aswith awarding a scholarship. In April we suspect. While the committee continuesa graduate in 2015 and received herawarded the 2020 ASEG NSW scholarship to siphon the remaining funds entrustedPhD in environment geoscience fromto Xueyu (Tom) Zhao from uNSW for his to us by treasury, I can only hope life willthe university of Adelaide in 2016. Sheproject on Machine learning of EM and swiftly return to normality for the sake ofhas worked on sedimentary basins andgamma-ray data for the lime application geoscientists Australia over. Take care outlandscape evolution in eastern andon the farmland. We wish Tom well there. We hope to see you all very soon.northern Australia, as well as periglacialwith his project and look forward to his All donations to our beer fund are greatlylandscapes in East Antarctica. Drpresentation later in the year.appreciated. McLennan is a super star of STEM https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/ We trust all the ASEG Members are virus Thong Huynh what-we-do/superstars-of-stem/ free.vicsecretary@aseg.org.auJon Clarke graduated as aMark Lackie Western Australia palaeontologist, moved into petroleumnswpresident@aseg.org.auand coal geology, and undertookStephanie Kovach Well, during these trying times, no newsa PhD in carbonate sedimentologynswsecretary@aseg.org.auis good news. And, thats what we have inand palaeoecology. He has worked WA for this period. Perth CBD remains aon marine surveys in the SouthernQueenslandghost town, but the number of reportedand Indian Oceans, explored for base WA COVID-19 cases are staying low, sometals, nickel and gold in ArchaeanWell 2020 has so far been quite a unique the policies are working! and Proterozoic terranes in South andleap year. It had 29 days in February, felt JuNE 2020 PREVIEW 8'